November 2012
42 posts
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“Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.”—Will Smith”
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From the CEO: The Ovarian Lottery
80% of the world lives on less than $10.00 a day(1). 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. The fact that you are able to sit and read this article is a semi-miracle. Our ability to read, interpret and process information is a gift, not a right. We are lucky in so many ways - yet people continue to complain about their “lot in life”, regardless of how bad that lot really...
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“Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found...”
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WatchThe One-Woman Choir
“Every single person I know who is successful at what they do is successful...”
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Passion Profile: Editor
Joy Gugeler
What do you do?
I am a substantive editor of literary fiction for adults and teens and Canadian non-fiction, and teach editing, publishing, and media studies at 3 Canadian universities. I also host a radio segment called Books & Bytes, oversee a literary magazine and online portal, and produce a chapbook series.
How did you get there?
Though in high school I’d written...
“Poor people have big TV. Rich people have big library.”—Jim Rohn”
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Setting Manageable Goals
By Jeremy Newcombe
My Problem With Goals
You’ve probably heard before that one of the keys to being successful (in anything) is setting realistic, achievable goals. Personally, I’ve always struggled with this. It might be ironic, but I’ve even had to make “making achievable goals” one of my personal goals. I’m very pleased to say, however, that after working on this skill for the past few months,...
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“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”—Vidal...”
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“There are two rules for success. 1) Never tell everything you know.”—Roger H....”
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Positive Self-Talk
Visual.ly
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“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”—Jack Welch”
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From The CEO: Acquisition of Knowledge - The...
By Spencer Thompson
People that know me well know that I love to preach about the virtues of reading. It has single-handedly done more for my personal development than anything else I’ve done. It has affected my personal relationships, my business relationships and my ability to make decisions. Almost all great leaders have the same feeling - that reading has changed their life. Why is...
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“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come...”
“The greatest good you can do for another is not to share your riches, but to...”
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Watch“Let me tell you something. An ‘ex’ is something that has been. And a ‘spert’ is a drip. We never use that term. There’s no such thing as ‘experts’. You’re learning all the time.”
Meet Steve Sunk - “The Blade Maker”
Beautiful video by Rob Norton Production
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Passion Profile: Fundraising Manager
Derek McLean
What do you do?
I am a Fundraising Consultant, working with not for profit charitable organizations. In that role I work with clients to help them: do Strategic Planning (particularly with respect to fundraising); develop a 12-, 24- or 36-month fundraising plan; conduct a feasibility study which tests what they believe their Case for Support is and estimates what level of possible...
“Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not...”
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The Opportunity of Failure
By Mark McLean
When I was going through the Education program, one of the first things they told me was to take whatever plans I had and throw them out. They were right. At the moment I teach English as a Second Language, though it wasn’t what I originally intended to do.
Because governments around North America have been slashing budgets for Education, it’s difficult to find stable, full-time...
WatchThe winter season is upon us, and snow is starting to form in the Vancouver mountains! Wednesday marked the opening day of Cypress mountain, so the development team held a vote and decided to temporarily pause Sokanu’s relentless development in favour of downhill antics. We’re proud to say that no one died this time around.
The team in action:
I tried to find a video to give you an...
Facts About Sleep
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From the CEO: The Three Types of Education
Throwback post from CEO Spencer Thompson
As a nation, we have adopted a model of judging people quickly and immediately as to how successful they are. That model is education, or lack there of. Very often in business or dinner parties, conversation can quickly turn to level of education.
“Where did you go to school?” one person may ask. “I am a...
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your...”
How to be a Good Intern
“I was an intern before I started working at Sokanu. #14 is spot on - even though I sometimes feel like my questions are silly, they rarely are and I always learn something” —Renee Masur, Content Manager
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6 Tips for Balancing School and Work
By Sara Halickman
Balancing work and school is a skill I’ve been honing since high school. I took on my first part-time retail job at the beginning of 11th grade, determined to save for a trip I wanted to go on. Now seven years later, I’m working at an accounting firm while taking CPA courses (and maybe still saving for some trips I’d like to go on). I think I’ve come a long way considering I’m...
How Positivity Can Change Your Life
By Jeremy Newcombe
I recently had a chance to sit down and chat with an old friend of mine named Fran. I find Fran’s story to be very inspirational, and I thought it might be a good idea to share it here so that more people can benefit from his wisdom.
Up to a just over a year ago Fran had spent his life working in a kitchen. He is an excellent chef. He had been working in the food industry...
“The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing...”
From the CEO: Micro vs. Macro Perspective
Reposted from the alpha blog back in the day - from Spencer Thompson
I think a lot of the world’s problems come from the fact that we are, as a species, very poor at framing things against other things. There are multiple terms for this, including: zooming in vs. zooming out, being proactive vs. reactive, or having a micro vs. macro view of the world. For the purposes of this post,...
What is Alienated Labor?
By Renee Masur
One of my favourite moments in education is when ideas, thoughts, and assignments seem to speak to one another. At the moment I am taking three classes in three separate departments: Poetry, Liberal Studies, and Interactive Communications. At several points, these classes intersect one another in harmony. Similar themes of compassion, empathy, and the industrial revolution have...
“Effective people are not problem-minded; they are opportunity-minded. They feed...”
“To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.”—Pearl S. Buck”
“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we...”
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Share Saturday: Meet Siobhán
We have a new plant in the office! …not to say that we have a great number of plants here at Sokanu HQ. In fact, this is the very first plant of what we hope will be many.
She’s the species Fiddlehead, of the genus Ficus, which means that she’s from the same family as the common fig tree. We’ve named her Siobhán (shivawn), drawing Celtic inspiration from her...
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,...”
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the...”
3 Ways to Keep a Work-Life Balance
By Sara Halickman
I can remember sitting in a tax season “kick-off” meeting, my first as an aspiring CPA working at an accounting firm, concerned about how I may or may not have sold my soul for the next two months and if I would have to say goodbye to my friends for the time being. One of the managers was fielding an obvious question about what expected overtime hours would be and said “don’t...
“Be yourself. The world worships the original.”—Ingrid Bergman”
